Pressing machine and control mechanism therefor



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 G. W. JOHNSON PnEssING MAGHINE AND coNTRoL MEQHANISM THEREFOR original File April 13, 1931 July V9, 41935.

BY f l ff l I A ToRNEYs July 9, 1935. G. w. JOHNSON v PRESSING MACHINE AND CONTROL MECHANISM THEREFOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed April 13, 1951 YN IQ.,

w f S Rim O o S h Il'- y" V "E fp l uw. k. m e -i w y |I Il :-L wY mw FWB Q ATTORNEYS July 9, 1935. G. w. JoHNsoN 2,007,607

PRESSING MACHINE AND CONTROL MECHANISM THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed April 13, 1951 l INVENTOR fea/y@ hf. da/7.5mA

WW1/M7 f @u ATTORNEY:

Patented July 9, 1935 l I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRESSING` MACHINE AND CONTROL MECHANISM THEREFOR 'George W. Johnson, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The American Laundry Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April13, 1931,'Serial Nth-529,694 Renewed September 28, 1934 8 Claims. (Cl. 121-38) My invention relates to pressing machines and, Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the particularly, to a control mechanism therefor. parts in another control position; Fig. 4 is a view The invention is particularly applicable to a Similar t Fig. 1 and Showing a meded 0lm 0f pressing machine of the scissors type which is means forcontrolling the operation of the pressl operated by fluid pressure but may be applied to ing machine control means by movement of the 5 other presses and the object of the invention is pressing members into pressing engagement; Figto provide two hand control means for the press- 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but likewise ShOWing ing machine wherein both hand operated controlythe modified form of holding means for the pressling means must be held in an operated position, ing machine control and showing the pressing l0 in this instance depressed, until the head of the machine control means in one position; Fig. 6 is l0 press comes in contact with the buck, or very a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the pressing nearly so, at which time the two controlling machine control means in another control posimeans are freed` or unlocked by movement of the tion; and Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic View showing pressing mechanism whereupon they may-be iurthe manner of interconnecting the valves and v, -ther actuated to a locked position to cause a final motor of Figs. 1-3. l5

pressure between the head and buck regardless Referring to the drawings, I have shown of whether or not manual pressure is maintained Dressing machine Consisting 0f e fame having on the conti-o1 means. However, the press is se an upwardly extending portion 2 0n which is pivconstructed that final pressure can be obtained Otelly mellnted e head level 01' pressure arm Q0 without moving the control means to locked posi- 3. A bed 4 on the frame I supports a lower 20 tion by maintaining manual pressure thereon pressing member or buck 5 that is covered by but when the control means are released the presthe usual padding and the head lever or pressure sure in the operating cylinder will be released arm 3 carries an upper. pressing member 6 t0 and the'press will open unless the control means which heat may be supplied in the well known are actuated to `locked position. manner. Springs-8 are connected at their upper 25 The hand control'means take the form of hand ends tothe rearwardmost end 9 0f the head lever operated levers arranged to control valves con- 3 and at the lower ends to the machine frame. nected 'in series in the iiuid pressure supply line Such Springs tend t0 maintain the head lever so that if either valve is permitted to close by 0r pressure erm 3 in the Open POStiOnS ShOWn :an releasing manual pressureon the hand lever bein Figs. 1 and 4 and to move-the head lever to 30 fore the lever is moved to its extreme depressed such position. That is, the Springs tend t0 mainand'locked position and before the head contacts tain the Dressing members 5 and 6 in seperated with the buck, the flow of iluid pressureto the relation, the distance of separation being suchas operating cylinder will be cut off and the head to permit convenient access to the lower presswill immediately move upward to its normal or ing member 0r buck 5 fOr the arrangement 0f 35 unoperated position.4 However, if the head is the worktobe placed thereon. under final pressure against the buck with both The means 101 moving the .upper pressingV hand levers locked down, the head will remain member 6 into engagement with the lower pressin such position until one of the hand operating ing member or buck 5 against the resistance of 40 levers is shifted from its depressed position, or the springs B consists of a fluid pressure oper- 40 in other words, moved upwardly. ated mechanism adapted to move the head lever Various other objects and advantageous feaor pressure arm 3 through the medium of a tog'- tures of my invention will be seen in the followgle mechanism comprising an upper link member ing description and one embodiment thereof may I0 having one end thereof pivotally connected to be seen in the accompanying drawings wherein the head lever or pressure arm 3 and a lowerv 45 similar characters of reference designate correlink member II having one of its ends pivotally sponding parts, and wherein: connected to the frame I as at I2, the free ends Fig. 1 is a side view of a pressing machine conof the link members I0 and Il being pivotally structed in 'accordance with my invention and connected together aS at I3.

the control mechanism therefor illustrating the The rearward end of a piston rod I4, connected 50 hand operable lever mechanism for" controlling to a piston I5 in a cylinder I6 mounted on pins the operation of the pressing machine; Fig. '2 III and free to oscillate thereabout at the other is a sectional view of one of the valves for conof its ends, is pivotally connected as at I1 to the trolling the operation of the pressing machine lower link member II a short distance below the :5 and showing the parts in one control position; pivotal'connection I3 between the free ends of 55 the link members I Il and II that obviously form a toggle mechanism. The purpose oi' connecting the piston rod I4 at such point is to permit an increased separation between the pressing members 5 and 6 by a shorter throw of the piston and piston rod. What has thus far been described is old and well known in the art.

In accordance with my invention, the flow of fluid pressure through a pipe I9 to the cylinder I6 whereby the piston and piston rod will be moved rearwardly to swing the links I0 and II of the toggle mechanism towards straight line position and move the head lever 3 about its pivot 20 and the head 6 into engagement with the bed or buck 5, and the exhaust of fluid pressure from such cylinder whereby the partsmay be moved to unoperated position by the springs 8, is controlled by two duplex valves 2I that are connected in series in such manner that if either of the two valves is closed no fluid pressure will flow through the pipe I9. The pipe I9 is connected to the outlet of one of the valves 2|, the inlet to this valve being connected to the outlet of the other valve 2| by means of a pipe 22, and the inlet of this last named valve is connected to a suitable source of supply of fluid pressure by means of a pipe 23. Such valves 2I are positioned in spaced relation' at the front of the usual pressing table 24 whereby the use of both of the operators hands is necessary to operate both of the valves.

The normal position of the pressing machine is open position, or with the head 6 spaced from the bed or buck 5 as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, in which position the proper garment lay is made on the pressing bed or buck 5. Then, both levers 32 are depressed which permits fluid pressure to flow through the pipe I9 into the cylinder I6 to bring the head 6 downwardly towards the bed or buck 5 as hereinbefore described. Suitable stops in the form of pivoted bars 34 mounted on a rock shaft 34' areprovided to prevent the hand levers 32 being moved downwardly below their middle position manually until the pressing head and bed are substantially in engagement, the stops being such that they must be moved out of the path of the levers before the levers can be moved to their down positions. Such movement of the stops 34 is timed to take place simultaneously with the contacting oi' the head 6 with the pressing bed or buck 5 by means o1' a connecting rod 35 which has one end pivotally connected as at 36 to the free end of one of the stops 34 and slides freely adjacent its opposite end through a perforation provided in a laterally extending boss 31 provided on the link I0 that forms a. part of the toggle mechanism. Suitable abutments 36 and 39 are provided on the rod 35 to be alternately contacted with by the boss 31 to move the stops 34 into and out of the path oi' the levers 32. When the stops 34 are moved out oi the pathof the levers such levers may be manually moved downwardly below the middle position whereupon they will be yieldingly held in such position by the springs 33 as shown in Fig. 3.

lEach duplex valve 2| comprises an inner chamber 25, a fluid pressure inlet valve 26, and an exhaust valve 21 as shown in Figs. 2, 3, 5 and 6. The inlet valve 26 controls the flow of fluid pressure into the chamber 25 from the supply line 23 f and the exhaust valve 21 controls the exhaust of uld pressure from the chamber 25 to the atmosphere. In operation, it is not desirable to have the two valves 26 and 21 open atvthe same time and for this reason the valves are interlocked by means of a walking beam 28 to which the valve stems are connected by means of links 29. Such walking beam 28 is pivotally mounted as at 30 to a bracket 3| that forms an integral part of the valve housing 2l and has one of its ends extended forwardly in the form of a hand lever 32 which is arranged to be placed in any of three positions, namely, up position as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 5, middle position as shown by the full lines in Figs. 2 and 5 and extreme depressed position as shown in Figs. 3 and 6.

As a means for holding the lever 32 in its extreme up or down positions, the hand lever is provided with a past-center snap mechanism which is so arranged that the lever 32 will be yieldingly held in its extreme up or down position after being manually moved thereto and, at the same time, is so arranged as to always tend to move the hand lever upwardly from the middle position hereinbefore described whereby the lever must be manually maintained in this position. This means consists of a rod 33' pivotally mounted at one end at the connection between the walking beam 28 and the link 29 leading to the valve 26, and having its free end slidably mounted in an opening in an oscillatable member 33" carried by the machine frame. The spring 33 is interposed between the oscillatable member 33" and the connection between the rod 33' and the walking beam 28. With this construction it will be seen that after the hand lever 32 is moved toward its down position the pivots 30, 35 and the oscillatable member 33 are moved toward a position wherein the pivots and the oscillatable member are all in the same straight line as the pivot 35', with the spring 33 reaching its highest point of compression at this time. Then, movement of the pivot 35 above or below its position of alignment with the pivot and oscillatable member 33" will result in the spring 23 being effective to move the hand lever 32 to its extreme up or down position and resiliently hold it there. In Figs. 2, 3, 5 and 6, it will be noted that the hereinbefore described middle portion of the hand lever 32 does not move the pivot 35' entirely intoA the alignment just described but the pivot 35' is substantially below this line whereby release of manual pressure on the hand lever 32 will result in the hand lever being snapped towards extreme up position.

As "shown, when the-hand lever 32 is in its up position the inlet valve 26 is closed and the exhaust valve 21 is open, when the hand lever is in its middle position the inlet valve 26 is open and the exhaust valve 21 is closed, and when the hand lever is in its down position the inlet valve 26 is open and the exhaust valve 21 is closed. Thus, it will be noted that the valves 26 and 21 are in substantially the same operative position when` the lever 31 is in its middle as when it is in its down position, the only difference being that the lever is held manually in its middle position and yieldingly held by the spring 33 when in its down position.

Since the valve 21 is closed against its seat when the lever 3,2 is in its middle position, one of its links 29 is provided with a lost motion connection in the form of a slot 4Ilto permit the lever 32 to be moved to its lowermost position as shown in Figs. 3 and 6. A spring 4I is provided to normally tend to close the valve 21 and hold it in closed position.

In the operation of this control means, assuming that the pressing machine is in its normal position or with the pressing head separated from the pressing bed or buck as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the proper garment lay is made on the pressing bed or buck 5 and both hand levers 32 vare moved tothe central position shown in Figs. 2 and 5 whichA will permit the exhaust valve 21 to close under the action of the spring 4I and move the inlet valves 26 to open position whereby vfluid pressure willflow through the pipe 23, past the valve 26, through the pipe 22, through the other val-ve 2|, and through the pipe I9 to the cylinder I6 to move the piston I5 forwardly to close the press and bring about the pressing action. On the press closing, the .stops 34 are moved out of their normal position shown in Figs. 2 and 5 wherein they limit their downward movement of the handles 32 to the position shown in Figs. 3 and 6 whereupon the handles 32 may be moved to extreme depressed position with the past center springs 33 yieldingly locking the handles in this down position with the exhaust valves closed and the inlet valves open. Continuous pressure may thus be had between the pressing head and the pressing bed or buck with the manual pressure released from the handles 32. After the pressing operation is completed, one of the handles 32 may be moved upwardly to open one of the exhaust valves whereupon the fluid pressure will exhaust from the cylinder I6 and the press will be opened under the action of the springs 8. However, both of the handles 32 must be moved upwardly against the past center resistance of the yielding locating means to return the valves to their normal unoperated position, the spring 33 being somewhat stronger than the springs 4I which normally tend to hold the exhaust valves closed. This upward movement is accomplished automatically by the stops 34 being moved to lift levers 32 by the lug 3l engaging stop 38 on rod 35.`

Referring to Figs. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings, I have shown a modified form of my invention wherein the stops 34 are moved to inoperative position by means of a small cylinder 42 containing a piston 43 which is normally held inthe position shown in Fig. 5 by means of a spring M. The piston rod t5 is operatively connected to the free end of one of the stops 34 as at lli by means of a link 4l, the piston, piston rod, and stops 34.

being yieldingly held in operative position by means of the spring 4t. When fluid pressure is admitted to the cylinder 42 through a pipe $8 the stops 34 will be moved out of the path of the levers t2 against the resistance of the spring M by movement of the piston in the well known manner. Such pipe to connects the cylinder t2 to the cylinder I6, the connection to the cylinder I6 being located in such position that fluid pressure from the cylinder can not enter the pipe t8 and cylinder 42 until the piston I5 has moved a suflicient distance to move the pressing head t into engagement with the pressing bed or buck 5. This is conveniently done by locating the connection of the pipe 48 with the cylinder I6 at a point beyond which the piston I5 will have passed when the head 6 contacts with the pressing bed or buck 5.

In the operation of this modified form of apparatus, to return the head 6 to its normal up position, either one of the hand levers 32 is manually moved upwardly which'will close one inlet valve 26 and open one exhaust valve 21 so that the fluid from` within the cylinder I6 is free to exhaust to the atmosphere past the valve 21 and the springs 8 will be effective to return the parts to their normal unoperated position. Then, when the piston Ii in the cylinder I6 has moved to the left past the point where the pipe 48 is connected to the cylinder I 6, the fluid within the cylinder 42 is free to exhaust to the atmosphere through the right-hand end of the cylinder I6 past the piston rod I4 which is made loose fitting through the cylinder and whereupon the spring 44 will return the stops 34 into the path of the levers 32.

Such movement of the stops 34 will also return the levers 32 which have not been returned to their up position manually to their middle position whereupon the yielding locking means 33 will return the levers to their extreme upper position.

With the above construction, I have provided a pressing machine and particularly a control mechanism therefor of such nature that the danger of an operators hand being caught between the pressing head and the pressing bed during the operation of the 4pressing machine is practically eliminated. This is due to the fact that the control mechanism embodies spaced control .means requiring the use of both of the operators hands thereon until the pressing members are either brought entirely or at least substantially into pressing engagement. However, the control means is such that it may be operated after the pressing members have been brought into or substantially into pressing engagement to maintain the pressing members in pressing engagement without necessitating the use of the operators hands thereon. A further advantage resides in the fact that automatic operated locking means are provided for preventing the operation of the control means into this pressure holding position until after the pressing members are either entirely in or substantially in pressing engagement. However, if desired, the control means may be manually held in such position as to cause final pressure between the pressing members. Various other advantageous features will be readily apparent.

Wlat I claim is:

1. A pressing machine, comprising relatively movable head and bed members, operating mechanism therefor, and control means for said mechanism, including spaced hand controls movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and to a, full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, separate means normally tending to move each of said hand controls from intermediate to inoperative position, and

means governed by the relative position of said movable members for controlling movement of said hand controls from intermediate to full oper.- ated position.

2. A pressing machine, comprising relatively movable head and bed members, operating mechanism therefor, and control means -for said mechanism, including spaced hand controls movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and

anism therefor, and control means for said mechanism, including spaced hand controls movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and to a full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, means normally tending to move said hand controls from intermediate to inoperative position, and means governed by the relative position of said movable members for controlling movement of said hand controls from intermediate to full operated position, said control moving means being effective to move said controls from a point of operation between said intermediate and full operated position to full operated position and maintain the controls therein.

4. A pressing machine comprising relatively movable head and bed members, operating mechanism therefor, and control means for said mechanism, including spaced hand controls movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement-of said members, and to a full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, spring actuated toggle means normally tending to move said hand controls from intermediate to inoperative position, and means governed by the relative position of said movable members for controlling movement of said hand controls from intermediate to full operated position.

5. A pressing machine, comprising relatively movable head and bed members, operation mechanism therefor, and control means for said mech-v anism, including spaced hand controls movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and to a full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, spring actuated toggle means 'normally tending to move said hand controls from intermediate to inoperative position, and means governed by the relative position of said movable members for controlling movement of said hand controls from intermediate to full operated position, said spring actuated toggle means being eiective to maintain said controls in full operated position on movement thereto.

6. A pressing machine, comprisingrelatively movable head and bed members, operating mechanism therefor, and control means for said mechanism, including spaced hand controls movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and to a full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, spring actuated toggle means normally tending to move said hand controls from intermediate to inoperative position, and means governed by the relative position of said movable members for controlling movement of said hand controls from intermediate to full operated position, said spring actuated toggle means being effective to move said controls from a point of operation between said intermediate and full operated position to full operated position and maintain the controls therein.

7. A pressing machine, comprising relatively movable head and bed members, operating mechanism therefor including a. uid pressure actuated motor, and control means for said mechanism comprising spaced valves connected in series between said motor and a source of uid supply, manuals controlling said valves and movable from inoperative to an intermediate position'to produce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and to a full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, means normally tending to move said manuals from intermediate to inoperative position, and vmeans governed by the relative position of said movable members Afor controlling movement of said manuals from intermediate to full operated position.

8. A pressing machine, comprising relatively movable head and bed members, operating mechanism therefor, and control means for said mechanism, including spaced manuals movable from inoperative to an intermediate position to pro-y duce operation of said mechanism and engagement approach movement of said members, and to a full operated position to maintain said members in engagement, means normally tending to move said manuals from intermediate to inoperative position, stop means for each manual, and means connecting said stop means with said operating mechanism for positioning said stop means against movement of its associated manual to full operated position except when said head and bed members are safely closed.

GEORGE W. JOHNON. 

